Home Assistant on your desktop.
Your sensors live in the corner of your screen and on desktop widgets; your computer's status lives in Home Assistant; your Music Assistant library is always one search away. A native companion app for Windows, Linux and macOS — no browser, no cloud.
Free & open source (GPL-3.0) · connects only to your own instances
What it does
Two directions, one small app
Most setups keep Home Assistant in a browser tab. HA DeskLink moves the handful of things you actually check all day onto the desktop — and feeds your computer's own status back into your automations. Your music comes along too: Music Assistant is built in, and it can stream straight to this PC.
Live sensors on the desktop
Temperatures, energy, locks, motion — values from your instance, visible at a glance in the tray.
Your PC becomes an entity
CPU load, memory, disk and uptime are pushed into Home Assistant as regular sensors.
Controls from the tray
Toggle lights, switches and scenes from the tray menu without opening a browser window.
Widgets on the desktop
Sensor values and switch cards sit right on the desktop, behind all open windows — with a set for every monitor.
Music Assistant, built in
Search your library, manage the queue and control any player in your home, right from the app.
This PC becomes a player
Sendspin streams Music Assistant audio to this computer — it plays on your PC speakers or headphones.
Notifications that arrive
Automations and events surface as native desktop notifications, with your choice of position and monitor.
Full dashboard when you want it
An optional embedded WebView gives you the complete Lovelace UI inside the app.
Set it up once
Auto-update, autostart, dark and light theme, hotkeys. Then forget it's there.
Downloads
Three platforms, latest builds
In short
What is HA DeskLink?
HA DeskLink is a free, open-source desktop application (GPL-3.0) for Windows 10/11, Linux and macOS that connects a computer to a Home Assistant smart-home instance in both directions: it displays Home Assistant sensor values (temperatures, energy, lock states, motion) live on the desktop in the taskbar or system tray, and it feeds the computer's own status (CPU load, memory, disk space, uptime) back into Home Assistant as regular sensor entities. Users can toggle lights, switches and scenes directly from the tray menu, pin sensor values and switch cards to the desktop as widgets behind all open windows (with a set per monitor), receive native desktop notifications when Home Assistant automations fire, and optionally open their full dashboard in an embedded WebView. Music Assistant support is built in: users can search their music library, manage the queue and control any player from the app, and with Sendspin streaming the computer itself appears as a Music Assistant player, playing audio through its own speakers or headphones. The app is not a browser extension and not a cloud service: it connects only to the user's own Home Assistant and Music Assistant instances over the local network, needs no subscription, and sends no data anywhere else.
FAQ
Common questions
Do I still need a browser? No. The tray view, desktop widgets, sensors, notifications, entity controls and Music Assistant all work without opening a browser. The embedded WebView dashboard is optional.
Does it work with Music Assistant? Yes — natively. Search your library, manage the queue and control players from the app. With Sendspin, your computer itself appears as a Music Assistant player and plays through its own speakers or headphones.
Does my data leave my computer? No. The app connects only to your own Home Assistant and Music Assistant instances. No cloud service, no telemetry, no account anywhere else.
What do I need to run it? Windows 10 or 11, Linux (x64 or ARM64), or macOS (Intel or Apple Silicon), plus a Home Assistant instance and a long-lived access token for the connection.
How much does it cost? Nothing. It is free software under GPL-3.0, and the source code is public on GitHub.
Is it an alternative to the official companion apps? It complements them: the mobile companion apps cover phones, HA DeskLink covers desktop PCs.
How does setup compare to HASS.Agent? Shorter. HASS.Agent needs an MQTT broker and a custom HACS integration beside the Windows app; HA DeskLink only needs your Home Assistant URL and an access token. HASS.Agent is the more powerful toolbox (commands, satellite service, generic media player); HA DeskLink focuses on a quick live view with minimal setup — with desktop widgets, Music Assistant and Sendspin streaming built in.
Context
Where it fits
Browser tab or PWA. The full dashboard, but it competes with every other tab you have open.
HASS.Agent (v2.2.1). The most feature-rich Windows client: sensors, commands, quick actions, media player — plus an MQTT broker and a separate Home Assistant integration as prerequisites, which makes the initial setup noticeably more involved. Actively maintained (1.3k★), Windows-only.
HA DeskLink. The lighter path for all three desktop systems: no MQTT broker, no separate integration — install, enter your Home Assistant URL and token, done. Live desktop view, widgets, notifications, PC sensors, built-in Music Assistant and an embedded dashboard. Fewer power-user features than HASS.Agent, far less setup.
Get involved
Testers shape the roadmap
HA DeskLink improves fastest with feedback from real users. Two platforms especially need eyes on them right now:
Linux. Actively developed, but barely tested outside my own setups — edge cases are almost guaranteed to exist. If you run it, tell me what breaks.
macOS. Development is paused simply because there is no Mac to test on and too few users yet. If enough people show interest and help test, development picks up again — that decision is directly in your hands.
Every bug report, edge case or "works on my setup" helps. Testers and feedback are explicitly welcome — whether you find a crash, a visual glitch, or just want to suggest a feature.
Open source
Source code & feedback
The source code lives on GitHub, one repository per platform. Issues, pull requests and feature ideas are welcome — or join the TechFlipsi Discord.